What is blockchain?

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Literally speaking, blockchain is a string of digital blocks organized in a distributed network.

It’s a decentralized database which works without any third party controlling its processes. Transactions and sets of data are encrypted and filed in the blocks electronically in digital format.

What is the difference between an Excel sheet and a blockchain?

Well, the decentralization is paramount, and the use of cryptography makes blockchain a system which maintains a secure history of transactions over time (Timestamping characteristic).

The technological breakthrough brought by blockchain is that it keeps pristine decentralized and immutable data over time, which means that the data entered is irreversible. The data (mostly transactions in the case of bitcoin) is verified by miners and then stored into blocks. The whole architecture guarantees the fidelity and security of the data.

Each block, when filled, is closed (through a mechanism called Proof-of-Work) and cryptographically linked to the previous block which makes the data chained together in chronological order. It is important to mention that the data stored in these immutable blocks can be seen by anyone (Transparency).

The first blockchain was launched in 2009 (Bitcoin).

Since then, many blockchains were invented. Some are structurally different from bitcoin even if the main features exist in all of them. All these blockchains are referring to the term: Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).